PIE-owa

PIE-owa! 

We're home from RAGBRAI. The guys made it to the river early afternoon yesterday, I wrangled them a shower at the Davenport YMCA, then we pushed a single pedal down and hit highway I74, arriving home late. The sleeping bags are drying on the clothesline, and the gear is in various states of airing out or staged for storage. I'm taking a break from mowing the nine-day yard growth to write my pie reviews while the memories are still fresh and sweet.

I wish I could say that I was as disciplined in my quest for pie as the guys were in their quest to ride. They hit the road each day by 7am to beat the heat, and didn't cut any of the very square corners that made up their 482 mile route through the very square miles of the Iowa road system. I, however, did not eat pie every single day. I did eat a total of 6 pieces of pie, sampling 8 types, and also eating two pieces of the ice box cake I made for Ben's birthday. There was also that homemade ice cream root beer float in Sioux City,  and the maple bacon Scratch cupcake that Patty bought for me in Cedar Falls. On Friday I sampled 5 types of pie in one day.  My average was 1.4 dessert servings/day. Still respectable, although not consistent. 

My first two pieces of pie were cherry rhubarb and strawberry rhubarb. On Sunday, I went to Washta, the midpoint/lunch town for the riders. While trying to locate the 3 members of Team Grin and Sharritt in the crowd of 15,000 riders, I spied a"homemade pie" sign posted at the Washta Volunteer Fire Deptartment food booth. I asked about flavors and they showed me an impressive list, including rhubarb, and three different rhubarb combos. I made eye contact with the woman across the table,and asked, "all homemade, right?"

She did not maintain her gaze, and replied, "mostly." 

At this point, I should have asked to inspect the goods, as it is easy to tell if a crust has been machine or hand crimped. But it was a chaotic crowd, and there were people behind me who had just burned a couple thousand calories in the span of a morning. I chose cherry rhubarb thinking that would not be a type easily mass produced. I was disappointed, though when they brought it to me in a plastic wedge container, and saw obvious machined edge. The crust was thick and chewy, so I ate the fruit filling which didn't have the right balance of tart to sweet, and more goo than fruit. Sorry Washta, Iowa. You sound like a place with pie treasures, but you blew my first impression for the trip.

Monday night we arrived at Patty's for dinner. She served a gorgeous strawberry rhubarb pie, and had some crust left over, so why not make a couple of cute little derby pies too? This type of thrift mindset (along with a passion for making good pie) comes from our mom, Bonnie Hoover. She was a child in western Nebraska during the depression, and nothing was wasted, including spare pie dough. If there was enough dough left for a single crust, she would freeze this for a future custard pie. If less than that, she taught us to roll out the dough leftovers, spread on a little butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Then roll it up, slice, and bake, into dense pie pinwheel cookies. 

Patty's derby pie is a pecan pie with chocolate chips. Rich gooey filling nestled in her crisp crust, like a toll house cookie invaded the world of pie. The smaller size pie meant we all got a "smidgen" as my dad was fond of saying. Without portion control while eating derby pie, the threat of diabetic biochemistry is real. 

Here is a photo of my sampler eaten on her porch after our fabulous dinner had settled a bit:


Patty's rhubarb combo pie restored my faith in Iowa pie after Washta's  rhubarb fail. Nice chunks of tangy rhubarb balanced with strawberry--the bright red filling that bubbles out at the edge and bakes into the crust is my favorite bite. Patty and John have an impressive rhubarb patch in their back yard as pictured below: this kind of eating is the literal fiber of the sturdy Midwesterner.  

Our midweek stay at my sisters meant a pie hiatus--just too many other good things to eat, and no time to drive a town away to seek pie, when there was necessary  sitting on the porch on Grand Avenue to be done, listening to the neighbors' parrot imitate their dog. If I could have stayed longer I would have worked on teaching it how to say, "be-bop-a-re-bop, rhubarb pie!"

On Thursday, we tipped from central to eastern Iowa, and I set up camp in Hiawatha, Iowa, just north of Cedar Rapids. Each host town has registered campgrounds, and I pulled into this one, implausibly located next to the interstate in a treeless, rutted, dry field,  started on the first tent, and then promptly threw it back in the car and headed down the road to find the promised land. 

I drove toward the RAGBRAI expo area, where the guys would be riding into town, and saw a couple of tents set up on the east side of a large building in a business park. I pulled into the parking lot, and read the sign on the door: 

Linn County Community College
Come in and use our bathrooms! 
Enjoy the air conditioning. 
Free Wifi

I inspected the grassy strip with space for our tents: evening shade, check; even surface, check; no sprinkler heads in the grass for an unplanned morning shower, check! I pulled over, unloaded, then headed into the air conditioning to fill my water jugs, and most importantly, Google "best pie in Iowa". I had found a sweet campsite and this SAG driver was going to celebrate with pie. 

Celebration came on Friday after loading the gear back into the Subaru for the FINAL time. There was a chance of storms for that night and the humidity was climbing so we decided to book a hotel for our final night. I ate a healthy breakfast burrito that I had served the riders, packed up, then drove to Oscar's Diner in Hiawatha where the internet told me they served Kathy's Pies--mentioned highly by several sites. I walked in through large tables of riders eating mountains of cheesy hash browns and steak and egg platters and sat at the counter.

I love sitting at the counter at small family run diners. Listening to the kitchen staff and waitress banter goes perfectly with savoring Kathy's coconut cream pie and sips of quality diner coffee. The pie's crust, despite being made for wholesale distribution was flaky and extra thin. The cream was smooth and full of dairy richness. Not real whipped cream on top, but a lovely toasted dusting of shredded coconut made up for that. 

The banter was high quality that morning as well. I watched Oscar shove plate after plate of cycling fuel into the window, and daughters Sarah and Christina hustle the plates to the tables. Mom worked between both areas as needed, and fielded many diner comments that started with, "I know you're really busy, but...." 
". .. the bathroom is out of soap."
". . . here's my money, I need to get going."
". . . The men's toilet is plugged up."
". . . What is the wifi password?"
Somewhere during my second cup of coffee the youngest sister, Cassandra showed up to help with the high volume of work in and out of the bathroom. She also had time to tell me about Serena, the fourth sister who wasn't in the restaurant that morning. She didn't need to tell me that Sarah was the eldest. I figured that pretty quickly as she was on the lookout for doing her work plus everyone else's if possible. Christina alternated between arguing with her and sighs of resignation. 

They all took time to chat with the regular crowd coming in on this day of RAGBRAI takeover.
"Where's your bike, Harold?"
"Jim, are you wearing spandex under those overalls today?"
And they were equally kind to the demanding visitors, including me, a middle sister who loves to watch and listen, and talk about sisters and birth order. They picked up my check as I was leaving, and when I asked them why, Christina  said, "because you only ordered pie." 

My next stop was Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City. We were headed to a hotel, so my only SAG job was to be on call to pick up the guys if it stormed and to keep the cargo bag on top of the Subaru dry if possible. I headed south just in front of the rain, then found a parking garage on the University of Iowa's campus. The guys texted that they were waiting out the storm under cover in Solon, so I headed to the Hamburg Inn for one of the top eight pies in Iowa based on popular vote. 

The list on the board was extensive. I knew I had to try chocolate bourbon pecan (from the award winners), but what about bumble berry? What about key lime? I opted to order a  four pie sampler (adding lemon meringue) in a to go box, a plate, and a knife to cut off a smidgen of each and take the rest to my team in the hotel.

The chocolate bourbon pecan was like Patty's derby recipe with the addition of the liquor. Instead of a regular crust, though, theirs had a toasted graham cracker crust with just enough sea salt mixed in to cut the richness of the filling. Amazing. The bumble berry is a combination of apple, rhubarb and red raspberry. I loved the subtle amount of spice they added--going to research this one to try at home! The others were good, but not special. The guys polished all of it off later after eating two large deep dish pizzas.

I thought about looking for more pie in the Quad Cities for our final day, but opted to indulge instead in HGTV in the hotel room after I sent the guys off on the final leg. 

Thanks, Iowans for a tasty week. I'm excited to visit again in April, 2016 for Jacob and Amber's wedding. I hear the couple is working on dessert choices for their party. Your Aunties will consult for a small sweet fee.